Children's Perspectives on Integrated Services

Every Child Matters in Policy and Practice

Mary Kellett

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781350314085
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Children's Studies in Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

Launching Palgrave's new Interagency Working in Health and Social Care series, this book provides one of the first reflective assessments of the Every Child Matters legacy of New Labour. Woven through with the voice of the child, it examines the new landscape of children's services, in bothprinciple and practice.

1	Introduction

In this chapter we discuss:

• 
    A brief introductory rationale
• 
    The parameters of the book
• 
    How the book is structured

Introductory rationale

There have been many books written on and about Every Child Matters (ECM) on a number of themes – political foci, critical practice, effective communication, early years’ perspectives – and a number of texts exploring aspects of multi-agency working. To the best of my knowledge, none have explored integrated children’s services specifically through the lens of the child. A principal aim in writing this text is to value and give voice to the perspectives of children and to illustrate the impact that ECM is having on their daily lives. This cannot be done in isolation, there has to be a framework in which to situate the lived experiences of children. Hence this volume necessarily depicts historical, theoretical and practice-based background canvases on which children have painted their own stories in a co-constructed platform of communication. Some children’s voices are direct and first voice, others are accessed through advocates or child-focused research.

The axis of this book is a measured review of children’s services and I do not shy away from praising or critiquing ECM in accordance with the experiences of diverse groups of children. History will be the ultimate judge of the value and durability of ECM, but if we wait for history to pronounce its verdict we will lose an opportunity to inform policy and practice in the here and now. Given the change of government, this is a fitting time to take stock of where we are with children’s integrated services and to ensure that the views of children play a part in shaping future directions.

The parameters of the book

It is increasingly common to differentiate between ‘children’ and ‘young people’ because of the vast difference in their experiences. Generally this is divided along the lines of primary and secondary school age groups or across the ‘teens’ and the ‘pre-teen’ years. Sometimes this is further divided by separating off the early years. This volume relates to children aged 3–12. It would be too large a work to incorporate the whole 0–18 age range in any meaningful way. I have chosen the younger age group because they have a more marginalized voice and there is greater scepticism about involving them in the business of decision-making in matters affecting their lives.

The second parameter to flag is that ECM primarily relates to England although there are similar initiatives running in the other nation states. Therefore the content of the book is centred on English policy and practice, although some case studies are drawn from the nation states and references are made to relevant sources and suggested further reading where appropriate. Occasional illustrative material from around the world is also cited to further contextualize the central tenets under review.

A final limiting factor is the timescale in which this has been written. The coalition government of the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats came to power in May 2010, so this review only goes as far as the end of the regnum of New Labour. There is limited comment on early initiatives of the coalition government and these are framed speculatively.

How the book is structured

The book is organized into three parts. Part I depicts the ECM journey. Chapter 2 charts the main historical events that have led to ECM, beginning with the first known welfare, in the form of the Poor Laws, up to legislation that finally embedded ECM into the English constitution. By contrast, Chapter 3 examines the main theoretical and conceptual frameworks that underpin ECM. Key to this is a range of discourses on childhood and the exposition of political activity especially around the application of neoliberal thinking.

Part II moves to contemporary practice and to a real-world evaluation of how ECM is working as an interagency initiative. Different fields of children’s services – social care (Chapter 4), education (Chapter 5) and health (Chapter 6), once separate departments – are explored in the light of their amalgamation into a single Department for Children, Schools and Families. Tensions arising in multidisciplinary approaches, concerns about the dilution of specialist professional expertise, and the outcomes of various practice models are reviewed from different professional perspectives and, crucially, from children’s perspectives. Chapter 7 addresses broader issues of disadvantage, diversity and marginalization and how these translate into children’s services at grass-roots level, dominated by the overarching theme of child poverty. Chapter 8 focuses on children in the domestic arena of the family unit, on how this landscape is changing, and the importance of children’s services reflecting the needs of whole family units. Chapter 9 looks at ECM and the third sector and the nuances that a value-based sector brings to children’s services. Chapter 10 is concerned with safeguarding children. The change of nomenclature from child protection to safeguarding children is indicative of the broadening of the area to include impairment of development and optimization of life chances. The impact on the specialist expertise of child protection is discussed at some length.

Part III considers ECM in the light of critical issues which are gaining momentum on the global stage. Chapter 11 probes the hot topic of children’s rights and explores where the ECM agenda sits on the global spectrum as ensconced in UNCRC. It looks at agency and how this can translate into children’s citizenship. Chapter 12 addresses participation and voice, deconstructing the rhetoric and reality in different models, and underlines one of the central tenets of the book – the imperative of listening to children. This leads naturally into Chapter 13, which considers the role of children as researchers in their own right. It sets out a rationale for empowering children as researchers, the value we can place on their research contributions and the potential to influence policy and practice. The final brief chapter draws together the main threads of the book and looks beyond ECM to future directions.

A characteristic feature of the book is the illustrations of children’s experiences and perspectives which provide a running commentary on the efficacy of ECM. These are boxed to distinguish them and to afford them value. Reflection exercises at the end of each chapter encourage you to reflect on what you have read and apply it to your own circumstances and/or your own practice. Each chapter also has suggested further reading.

You will gain most from this book if you read it chronologically and in its entirety. However, the parts of the book have distinctly different purposes and the chapters within them are self-contained and constructed so that they can be read in isolation. There is clear interchapter signposting to show you where you can follow up an area of interest in its primary chapter.

Part I

The Every Child Matters Journey

2	The Historical Context

In this chapter we discuss:

• 
  The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and its impact on children’s services
• 
  The historical context of children’s services
• 
  How ECM is changing the children’s services landscape
• 
  New roles and organizations to embed integrated children’s services
• 
  Criticisms of ECM

The first decade of the twenty-first century has seen extraordinary changes in policy and practice relating to children’s services, encapsulated in the Every Child Matters (ECM) agenda. In order to be able to evaluate how integrated children’s services are functioning and evolving, it is important to have an understanding of the historical context that has brought this about. There have been two main drivers which brought us to ECM and to the current reforms we are witnessing in children’s services. The first is the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and the seismic shift in perspectives on children’s status in society that it brought about. The second is a number of high-profile child deaths, notably Maria Colwell in 1973, Jasmine Beckford in 1984 and Victoria Climbié in 2000, which shook the nation and exposed catastrophic failings in the way children’s services were operating. Similarly, high-profile homicides by individuals with mental health conditions drew attention to the need to review mental health policy (see Appleby et al., 2001). The government was galvanized to instigate sweeping reforms that collectively formed Every Child Matters: Change for Children (DfES, 2004). ECM is an ambitious agenda which seeks to ensure that every child, irrespective of background or circumstances, is enabled and supported to live a happy and fulfilled childhood, personified in the five intended outcomes: be healthy; stay safe; enjoy and achieve through learning; make a positive contribution to society; and achieve economic wellbeing. This chapter charts the historical and legislative processes en route to ECM and the major events that have influenced contemporary thinking on integrated children’s services.

The impact of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989)

The 1989 United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) was ten years in the making. Representatives from all religions, cultures, organizations and societies were consulted and it went through numerous iterations before being finally adopted into international law in 1989. It was the first legally binding document to accrue human rights directly to children. In 1959, the United Nations General Assembly produced a Declaration of the Rights of the Child, but this was only an advisory document setting out ten principles for working in the best interests of children. Prior to UNCRC (1989), children’s rights had been incorporated into general rights edicts, for example the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UN, 1948). All countries in the world except the USA and Somalia ratified the UNCRC and in doing so agreed to implement its articles. It was a landmark proclamation which covered all aspects of human rights – social, cultural, civil and economic – and was t...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Boxes, Figures and Tables
• List of Abbreviations
• 1. Introduction
• Part I: The Every Child Matters Journey
• Part II: Multi-Agency Working in Children’s Services
• Part III: Contemporary Issues
• References
• Index